Dyed in the Poisoned Wool
Before we formally kick off our chapter on the sustainability of organic wool, here’s some rather foul cud to chew on, so to speak. Ever wonder why the paper sleeves of some yarns proclaim their charges to be “permanently mothproof”? One curious customer e-mailed Brown Sheep, just one of the yarn manufacturers making the claim, to ask what it meant. “They replied that a small amount of a pesticide (Mitin FF) is actually boiled into the yarn during the dyeing process,” she said, horrified.
Why you should care:
Even if we subtract the environmental damage caused by these toxins, pesticides are still poisonous, horribly persistent1 synthetic chemicals that can build up in your fatty tissue over time, increasing your risk of cancer and reproductive problems, while impairing brain development in children2. (Their effect is more insidious because it is slow-acting and long term.) In fact, the National Academy of Sciences classifies more than 80 percent of today’s most commonly used pesticides—routinely found in breast milk—as carcinogenic. Even low-level exposure to pesticides can precipitate headaches, nausea, dizziness, and mental confusion.
(To prevent egg-laying moths from satisfying their babies’ case of the munchies on your natural fibers, toss a sachet of sweet-smelling lavender buds or dried lemon peel in with your yarn.)
1They are so pertinacious that pesticides banned more than 30 years ago are still found in the umbilical cord blood of newborns today.
2Also, a National Cancer Institute study discovered that children are as much as six times more likely to get childhood leukemia when pesticides are used in the home and garden.
mim said,
June 19, 2006 at 11:45 pm
it is so nice to be back in the company of righteously funny environmnentalists after spending the weekend with the general public at a a campground where I got to see first hand wanton abuse of recycling containers and huge 6 mpg mobile homes…..but I ramble. Thanks for the sanity check.
Brianne said,
June 20, 2006 at 12:29 am
Also one more reason for me not to like Brown Sheep yarn.
green LA girl » Knitting, vegan style said,
June 20, 2006 at 2:35 am
[...] Update: It’s worse than I thought! The Worsted Witch reports on how some companies boil wool in pesticides to keep it moth-proof – [...]
green la girl said,
June 20, 2006 at 2:36 am
Dude — We’re so on the same wavelength — Just posted about vegan knitters today –
brooke said,
June 26, 2006 at 9:32 pm
Yikes! I’ve never knit with Brown Sheep -and now never will. What other companies add pesticides during the dyeing process? Another reason to always try to knit with organic yarns.